Stanford’s win sets up national title chance

MINNEAPOLIS — Tami Alade had 14 blocks, Kathryn Plummer had 12 kills and Stanford beat BYU 25-15, 25-15, 25-18 on Thursday night to advance to the NCAA volleyball championship match.

Seeking its eighth title, Stanford will face defending national champion Nebraska, which came from two sets down to beat Big Ten rival Illinois 22-25, 16-25, 25-23, 25-20, 15-11. The final will be 6 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2).

Audriana Fitzmorris added 11 kills and nine blocks, and Morgan Hentz had 20 digs for the Cardinal (33-1), who advanced to the championship for the 16th time.

“My block was amazing tonight,” said Hentz of her teammates, who combined for 33 blocks. “I was able to set up around them. And they made my job so much easier. I think our whole team did a great job of scrapping. I thought our scrappiness was key.”

Alade had seven blocks for the Cardinal, whose loss this season came at BYU in late August.

“Blocking has always been one of my favorite parts of volleyball,” Alade said. “It’s something (coach Kevin Hambly) works on us middles a lot. We knew ... they run a fast offense. Trying to close is really, really important. More importantly than that is really pressing over on the block.”

Plummer, the reigning national player of the year, hit .300 and Fitzmorris .375 as the Cardinal had 34 kills with just seven errors. BYU had 29 kills and 32 errors.

Roni Jones-Perry had eight kills with 12 errors for BYU (31-2).